Please keep in mind that Endless Space 2, developed by Amplitude Studios is still in Alpha stage and any negative points I have are most likely going to be fixed by the time it releases.
As such, when I started the game, I was thrown into it in Expert mode, which in and of itself, means that there wasn’t much of a tutorial except for some of the more complicated aspects of the game and as such, had to figure out quite a bit of it myself. As there are other modes locked in this version, I suspect that upon launch, players will have a much easier go of things, not that there were many times when I didn’t quite understand what was going on.
There seem to be infinite possibilities when you start out. You get to choose everything from your Empire and what faction and population affinity they have, to the shape and size of your Galaxy to how fast the game progresses and how many competitors you have. From here, you have one planet of your own in a small cluster, that you can use to construct various things you might need, including different kinds of ships.
From here, the overall concept is to explore the galaxy and space around you which, does indeed appear to be endless. It isn’t just space that is endless in Endless Space 2. It is also the things you can do; technologies you can research, ships you can design, planets you can colonize to build even more things. You get to send out probes to further explore smaller, but more specific parts of the clusters. Your planet that is the beginning of your Empire and your quest of being the strongest in the galaxy, has its own Government and whatever party is in control at the time has effects on other aspects of the game and this changes every several turns when elections are held. This holds some bearing on how you forge relationships with other Empires and the battles you end up fighting.
From the looks of things, there will be a multiplayer and a way for you to join other games. Honestly, the sheer number of things Amplitude Studios has come up with you to do in Endless Space 2 is beyond amazing. Space games are not always my thing, but this is definitely one that I will be following and keeping up with as it progresses.